Boston Rock Photos And Stuff
I’ve seen the The Acro-brats at Radio a few times. It’s always fun to watch them pick a fight with their instruments.* Their scrappy set of punk ‘n’ roll for the club’s first anniversary was no exception.
* They usually win.
Well, that was fun.
I’ll try to keep this brief. I’ve been posting up a bunch of One Night Band 4 pictures, but I wanted to tie up a few loose ends.
First of all, One Night Band 4 raised more than $3000 for Zumix and Girls Rock Campaign Boston. That rules.
I was honored to shoot some of the promo photos for these new bands. Working with Mary Flatley on this was super fun.
Lastly, all of this would not have been possible without Ashley Willard, Richard Bouchard and Kerri-Ann Richard working together like they do. There are so many moving pieces. Keeping them all moving in the same direction is no easy task, but this crew makes it look effortless.
OK, here are links to all of the bands that performed at One Night Band 4:
SNUGGLZ
Big Head Big Ears
Lesbian Frankenstein
The Walls
Impossible Stairs
Sir Vix-A-Lot
Caress
Grandfather Time Bomb
Mötörböat (One Night Band 3 alumni)
The Mosquitoes In Tuxedos (Zumix band)
See you next year!
Last year, One Night Band 2 alumni Bedss came out to shut down One Night Band 3 with a drunken rousing rendition of “Cum On Feel The Noize.” This year, the drunken rowdy sing-along tradition continued. Mötörböat rocked the hell out at last year’s event. They returned to the scene of the crime to close out the 4th edition of this treasured Boston institution. Mötörböat tore through a couple of their original tunes like they had firecrackers in their pants. Then a cast of thousands* got up on stage to end the night with a drunken spirited cover of “You Shook Me All Night Long.”
* OK, a cast of tens. This included One Night Band participants past and present, organizers and, well, just about anyone else who wanted to jump on stage.
They may look adorable, but SNUGGLZ* (Alison Murray, Bob Maloney, Crystal “Smokie” Rose, Keith Pierce and Kristina Johnson Parish) packed a punch. The first One Night Band of 2012 had a name inspired by the image they used to find their creative partners for the day. No cuddle music from this cast of characters, though. SNUGGLZ was ready to rock.
* All caps with a Z, please.
On Friday I told you why Parlour Bells was a great choice to kick off the We Want The Airwaves: A WFNX Tribute event at The Paradise. On Saturday they proved me right. This crowd wasn’t going to settle for melancholy and self-pity. They wanted a reason to be hopeful. They wanted to be delighted. They wanted to be entertained. They wanted all of this. Parlour Bells delivered.
Parlour Bells
“Airwaves”
2012
There’s a big show at The Paradise on Saturday night. Some former WFNX DJs are putting together an event to celebrate the WFNX that was.* Parlour Bells are on the bill for good reason. They are a band that has always championed radio as being essential to the local music scene, even in a time of readily available digital downloads and internet streaming. They are tireless supporters of Boston Emissions, Boston Accents and any other radio program devoting time to playing Boston artists. They even performed on the resurrected WBCN rock bus. I believe Glenn DiBenedetto when he sings “now my radio dial is missing two front teeth.” He means it.
“Airwaves” is a sentimental reflection on the state of Boston radio in June of 2012. It strikes a chord by revealing the emotion of a specific time and place. “Airwaves” is a song about how fans of Boston radio feel right now. It’s immediate. You can’t listen to Nate Leavitt’s delay drenched guitars and not be reminded of the countless U2 radio anthems broadcast by both of our recently departed rock radio stations. It’s a consoling echo. I’d be lying if I said the song wasn’t playing in my head last night as I lay in bed. The sound of the Metropolitan Chorale** was ringing in my ears as prepared for a new day.
Where to get it:
You can also watch a mini-documentary on the making of “Airwaves” right here.
* See what I did with the link there? Garvy J And The Secret Pockets Of Hope And Resistance are part of the show, too.
** Kerri-Ann Richard, Richard Bouchard, Anngelle Wood, Michael Marotta, Chris Mulvey, Lisa Libera, Leesa Coyne, Adam Ritchie, Rishava Green, Matt King, Michael J. Epstein, Sophia Cacciola, Jessica Sun Lee, Adam Anderson, Michael Gonzales, Ken Marcou, Tom Roppelt, Joel Edinberg, Rachel Blumenthal, Sarah Rabdau, Peter Moore and Dan Nicklin all lend their voices to the song.
Look, what you do in your free time is none of my business. That said, I’m going to offer you a bit of unsolicited advice: Don’t die before July 27th, 2012.
Sure, right now you’re thinking “mind your own beeswax, dude.” I can’t blame you. I’m not usually in the business of telling people what to do. I leave that to Richard Bouchard over at Boston Band Crush. He’s always yammering on with his “you’re gonna want to get tickets ahead of time” show crushes.* No, I’m usually the one telling you what you should have done, shoving pictures in your face to prove my point. It’s only fitting that we should team up and present a show together. So here goes…
First of all, take another look at that poster. There’s a flying ice cream cone heart on there, yes indeed. How else would you visually depict such a joyous event?** That’s the handiwork of Nicole Anguish at Daykamp Creative.
OK, now the important stuff. Let’s start at the top. Aloud has been hammering out hard-hitting, harmony-drenched indie rock for ten years now. If their show this past Saturday was any indication, things are going to get sweaty.
Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, human picture frames… you never know what you’re going to get at a Sidewalk Driver show. Oh, wait, you do know what you’ll get; a high-kicking, confetti-blasting, glam-popping good time.
Parlour Bells will be opening the show. Wait, what? The most debonair band of this year’s Rumble is opening this show? The band that can do this? Yup. That’s how awesome this show is going to be.
The Springsteen-meets-punk of New York’s Dirty Wings round out this stellar bill.*** It all goes down at TT’s on July 27th. There’s even a Facebook event where you can go tell us how excited you are for this show.
So, I implore you not to die before July 27th, 2012. I’d hate for you to miss out on this wonderful event. If you fail to heed my advice, I’ll be shoving pictures from the show in your cold, dead face. I don’t think that’s something either of us would enjoy.
* This is an actual quote from one of Mr. Bouchard’s finest pieces in advance of Tijuana Sweetheart’s final shows. My favorite bit: …it’s gonna be a total mess. Putting that band in a small space and feeding everyone beer is like tossing four honey badgers in a closet with a pile of meth; it’s gonna be crazy, but you’re damn sure gonna want to see what happens. Classic Bouchard.
** Aquarium legs? Bearded mouse going over a water fall in a barrel? “Axe”-wielding Jason Voorhees? Those ideas were already taken. Flying ice cream cone heart it is.
*** Check out the tune “(Lonely Night In a) Lonesome Town” on their Bandcamp page. Good stuff.
The band that was supposed to play first in the 2012 Rock ‘N’ Roll Rumble has just played last. In a classy move by Anngelle Wood,* The Grownup Noise closed out this year’s festivities as the non-competing guest band. The eclectic indie rock outfit was supposed to open Preliminary Night #1 before Paul Hansen slipped a disc in his back a couple of days before the show, forcing the band to reluctantly withdraw. Thankfully, he’s feeling much better now. The band took to the TT’s stage and played a great set to wrap things up. What a fitting end to a wonderful three week run.
* Anngelle is full of classy moves when it come to The Rumble.
Bow Thayer And Perfect Trainwreck’s modern Americana took the 2012 Rock ‘N’ Roll Rumble tiara* on Friday night. It was certainly no easy task. The band faced tough competition on all of their nights. Through it all they won over judges with well crafted songs and an astonishing display of musicianship, both individually and collectively. Swampy, dirty, twangy and heartfelt, these guys can flat out play.
Congratulations to Bow Thayer And Perfect Trainwreck!
* In reality the Rumble tiara is more of an actual crown now.
Motherboar did the same thing in their Rumble Semifinal set as they did in the preliminary round: lay waste to TT’s. Would you want it any other way? Expecting something different probably would have left you disappointed Thursday night. I didn’t see too many disappointed faces during Motherboar’s set. Then again, it was hard to see much of anything through all of the flying beers and pumping fists.
Semifinal Night #1 Winner: Bow Thayer And Perfect Trainwreck
